Advent: Seeing and challenging

In this fourth week of Advent, we are focusing on the theme 'Christ present' and Isaiah 7.10-16. Today, Richard Reddie reflects on this week’s theme.

Light from darkness

Try to make your room as dark as possible with just one lamp lit. Turn the lamp off.

Sit in the darkness and look around you. What can you see? Spend a moment absorbed in the darkness.

Switch on the lamp. Notice the difference the light makes in terms of being able to see what is going on and how the situation has changed. In the dark it is easy to miss things, or not see what is going on. But when the light is turned on you can see what is happening. In the passage from Isaiah, we hear the prophet giving King Ahaz a sign that a special child will be born. This child is Jesus and he will be like a light to all the peoples and nations of the world.

Jesus is like a light. His presence helps us to more clearly see ourselves, others and the state of the world as a whole. In a world where many people suffer, it can be easy not to see what is going on; we can miss what is happening to the poor or to refugees. However, the light of Jesus not only helps us to see what is occurring, but it also challenges us to do something about it.